Teeuwynn Woodruff | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Game designer |
Teeuwynn Woodruff is a writer and game designer who has worked primarily on role-playing games, TV writing and interviewing, and trading card games. She has been described as "one of the pioneer women in the industry."[1]: 7:55
Teeuwynn Woodruff was introduced to role-playing games at an early age, playing her first game of Dungeons & Dragons when she was 11.[2]: 3:00 After college, she met some employees of TSR while attending a games convention in 1992, which led to the idea of a career as a freelance fantasy writer.[2]: 3:45 Subsequently she sent some material to TSR and one of her monster designs appeared in the AD&D adventure Assault on Raven's Ruin.[2]: 4:00 From there, she contributed material to various publishers, including TSR, White Wolf Publishing, FASA, Wizards of the Coast, Living Room Games, and West End Games.
In 1993, she was hired by White Wolf, becoming their first female game designer.[1]: 7:55 While at White Wolf, she was a part of the design team for several projects, including the Player's Guides for Werewolf: The Apocalypse, Vampire: The Masquerade and Mage: The Ascension. As the lead designer for World of Darkness: Gypsies, she intensely researched Romani people to ensure the book reflected their society.[2]: 30:05
In 1995, she moved to Seattle to join the staff of Wizards of the Coast (WotC) as their first female game designer.[1]: 8:00 Woodruff was part of the design team on a multitude of projects including BattleTech, Netrunner, Magic: The Gathering (7th edition), Duelmasters, Dreamblade, and Pokémon Trading Card Game. After WotC bought TSR in 1997, she also contributed to several D&D projects including Masters of the Wild. Woodruff was on the design team with Wolfgang Baur and Mike Selinker for a role-playing game based on Magic: The Gathering, but Wizards cancelled this project in 1996.[3]: 140
In 2005, she and Mike Selinker left WotC to form Lone Shark Games. As Lone Shark's Creative Director, Woodruff's project design work included the board game Betrayal at House on the Hill,[4] card games, collectible card games (CCGs), the Harrow card deck for Paizo's Pathfinder role-playing game, and a collectible marble game called Warball.[1]: 30:40 Lone Shark also specialized in creating giant puzzles at events like Gencon, Microsoft's annual three-day employee picnic, and other industry events such as the launch party for Uncharted: Drake's Fortune.[1]: 31:15
Woodruff also continued to freelance, interviewing participants and producers of various reality shows such The Amazing Race and Survivor, then publishing articles for now defunct RealityNewsOnline.[5][1]: 36:15
Good Wood (2018)